Preserving the Planar Dynamics of a Compliant
Bipedal Robot with a Yaw-Stabilizing Foot Design PublicDeposited

Descriptions

The ATRIAS agile humanoid robot, along with a number of other spring-mass walking
machines, currently have two instabilities: one resulting from inertial forces on the torso
which cause the robot to spin like a top, and another resulting from stiff ground collisions
which cause chattering of the point-contact toes. This thesis presents a solution to these
two problems in a manner consistent with the exacting design philosophy of springmass
walking machines. A passive, compliant, line-contact foot is proposed with only
120 grams of added mass and a fully-adjustable return mechanism.